Premature Evaluation: Japandroids Celebration Rock

A couple of months ago, someone I follow on Twitter posted a video of some kids goofing around in their basement/rec room area to the soundtrack of Japandroids’ “Younger Us.” Even though the footage was randomly cobbled together, and there isn’t really a narrative to speak of, and at least one of the kids is wearing one of those tie-dye Grateful Dead t-shirts that have long plagued the halls of America’s public high schools, it feels supremely cathartic and perfect. No matter what Japandroids do for the official video, there’s no way they’ll create something that communicates their music more effectively than this capsule. I don’t know if the kids are stoned, or if they’re sober, I just know that something about the juxtaposition of “Younger Us”‘s straightforward nostalgism — “Remember saying things like “We’ll sleep when we’re dead” / And thinking this feeling was never going to end” — and the song’s tone, a sort of smile back to the past, conveys the inexpressible. Youth, power chords, a steady percussive anchor, wide-sweeping hooks pilfered, but sharper and infectiously tuneful, from the garage rock gods.

These are some words describing Celebration Rock, but I only need two (arguably three) characters — “Oh!” “Oh” is on here a lot. One of opener’s “Night Of Wine And Roses” hooks goes “Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh OH OH!” The second track, “Fire’s Highway,” has one that goes “OH OH OH OH OH OH!” There’s so many “Oh’s” on the record that I’m sure Fader will tabulate them for an installment of By The Numbers (fistpumps should be counted too, but I guess that’s a little tougher to track down. An average based on a sample works though? Or a median fistpump #?). Celebration Rock‘s lyrical content is unfussy and evocative, worthy of that lowbrow/brilliant corner of the approval matrix — “When the soul of the city / Was laid to rest,” “We yell like hell to the heavens,” some stuff about train tracks, you know. Stuff like that. Outside of the kind-of misstep of Gun Club’s “For The Love Of Ivy” — it’s a pretty stock garage rock rumble in the lane of something like Japanther or Bass Drum Of Death or maybe early White Stripes, a hollow rip of whoever those guys might be ripping off — Japandroids don’t waste a spare second getting in and out of their big, wide-sweeping hooks and stupendously catchy riffs. The run of “Adrenaline Nightshift“-“Younger Us” (been around a while but it still slays)-“House That Heaven Built” is, with respect to some solid runs on the Screaming Females record, the most \m/ moment so far this year. Please excuse me for going there.

A couple of former colleagues/buddies and I were on an e-mail chain recently pontificating on the merits of Japandroids, and the friend who knew the least e-mailed, “So weird w/ this kind of rock b/c it’s either just very obviously great and you can tell in five seconds, or it’s not; there’s no disputing it. Japandroids def have that legit spirit.” Though there’s nothing as good as “Young Hearts Spark Fire” on Celebration Rock — that’s an all-timer — it’s chock full of that same exuberant immediacy outside of the solid comedown of “Continuous Thunder” — a concise, sinewy record you can’t help restart once it concludes. Whatever the Japandroids are trying to say to you, they’re not wasting any time doing it. What are you waiting for?

What drew me into Japandroids on their debut is that they make the kind of music that transcends your age, which is nice especially when you were raised mostly on punk. This sort of rowdy rock musicnormally, once you reach your late 20s, is no longer provided to you unless you want to hang around a bunch of high school skateboarders and your friends are all like, “Trash Talk what? People still listen to hardcore? Me and my new wife are going to catch Gotye…” Anyway, they’re two dudes who have still yet to reconcile their adulthood and constantly make mention to nostalgic moments of you, and I guess that’s what’s really great about them for me — The ability to hear a song that says “Yes, I have responsibilities and know how to take care of myself just fine, but for christ’s sakes guys, we’re far from our death beds so let’s not become stagnant and boring.”

Same here. That song is actually heartbreakingly sentimental considering the brash vocals and the aural aggressiveness. The mere fact that all that heart translates despite the obvious desire to make “noise” is absolutely touching and enviably young. This coming from someone who’s only in the early 20s, sadly.

I don’t think the writer knows that For the Love of Ivy is a classic song by the Gun Club, so it’s not “a pretty stock garage rock rumble in the lane of something like Japanther or Bass Drum Of Death or maybe early White Stripes, a hollow rip of whoever those guys might be ripping off.”

I’d argue that while “Young Hearts Spark Fire” is a fantastic song, “Younger Us” to me will always be their best song. This is AOTY so far for me, and it’s b/c it’s completely solid. The lyrical content is far superior than Post-Nothing, relying heavier on imagery than just repetition. I love both records though, some of the best garage rock out there.

At the time, Post-Nothing didn’t really do much for me. So imagine my surprise when I picked this on my iPod and it blew my shit entirely away. My favorite is the opener about the dreamers who drink and smoke themselves silly wondering if they have anything to live for, but “Younger Us” is sweet and “The House That Heaven Built” knocks me over. My AOTY so far along with the new Loudon Wainwright. Incredible.

I like Japandroids but seriously. A lot of music writers in their late 20s who are confused about life and the world dig their music because they sing about girls and high school and they use words like “a sort of smile back to the past, conveys the inexpressible.” When really you’re just talking about someone else justifying the willingness to sing big, reductive, “youthful” hooks. The only reason we call them “transcendent” or w/e is because they appease the most insecure spot of the average dude contributing to Stereogum or Pitchfork, and that’s mistaken for profound brilliance. Nah, it’s just us being scared, freshly-graduated white people.

This was pretty well put. For me, the music itself is also just mediocre…it’s a pop/punk duo playing generic punk/pop stuff but with less skill and recording chops than the average top 40 pop/punk band and the lyrics are about adolescence and nostalgia and other uninventive, played out pop/punk bullshit.

Most Viewed

Last spring the world got a brief preview of Once Upon A Time In Shaolin, the secret Wu-Tang Clan album that will be released in a limited edition of 1 and auctioned off to the highest bidder. That might be all most of us hear from the project for the rest of our… More »

Kanye West debuted his much-leaked single "All Day" at the Brit Awards last week, and now a studio version has emerged. The So Help Me God song's bouncy, bass-heavy beat also features verses from Allan Kingdom and Theophilus London, and a massive "Monster"/"Black Skinhead"-style riff slices through the track from time… More »

Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe" was one of the defining jams of summer 2012, but it was the sort of song that screamed "one-hit wonder" from the rooftops. Well, that's not going to be the case. Today, Jepsen comes back with a new single called "I Really Like You," and it is absolute top-shelf… More »

Die Antwoord seemed to be on the verge of climbing to a new tier of celebrity this year with Ninja and Yolandi Visser playing prominent roles in the dystopian sci-fi twee oddity Chappie. Now they'll definitely be more famous, but not for the right reasons; notorious might be a better word for it. Drake and… More »

Mumford & Sons have announced the details of their third full-length, Wilder Mind, and it's bound to sound pretty different from the rest of the folk-rock group's output. As As they told Rolling Stone, the band went completely electric for the new album, ditching the folkier elements that catapulted them to fame. "We felt… More »